Delegation of the government of Bangladesh visit Aga Khan Academy, Qutb Shahi Tombs in Hyderabad, India

A delegation of five high-ranking members of the Bangladesh government, led by Munir Merali, Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) Ambassador to Bangladesh, visited the Aga Khan Academy near Shamshabad on Friday.

The objective of the visit was to explore the social benefit and impact that an academy can bring to its immediate neighborhood, ahead of the establishment of Aga Khan Academy Dhaka in Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshi delegation got first-hand exposure of the unique nature of an academy education; the benefit its outreach activities bring to the nations in which they are embedded, according to a press release.

As part of the two-day exposure visit, the delegation was also given a guided tour of the Qutb Shahi Heritage Park.

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These restored gardens are the first chahar-bagh, or four-part paradise garden to surround a Mughal tomb on the sub-continent. Built nearly a century before the Taj Mahal, the Tomb and its gardens were an expression of the love and respect borne towards the Emperor Humayun by his son, Akbar and widow, Haji Begum. The chahar-bagh was more than a pleasure garden. In the discipline and order of its landscaped geometry, its octagonal or rectangular pools, its selection of favourite plants and trees, it was an attempt to create transcendent perfection – a glimpse of paradise on earth.

The hues and scents of these gardens, the varied sources of the design elements and of the chosen construction materials, make this monument an important reminder of the power and elegance of diversity, while the sentiments that moved its patrons, united them in a shared virtue.

— Excerpt: His Highness the Aga Khan at the ceremony to inaugurate the restored Humayun’s Tomb gardens. New Delhi, India. 15 April 2003 https://the.ismaili/speeches